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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24962488">'cause i've been wrong about a million times</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosegoldblood/pseuds/rosegoldblood'>rosegoldblood</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Not Video Bloggers, Explicit Language, Fluff, Humor, Identity Issues, M/M, Minecraft, well dreams still a youtuber but george isnt</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 10:34:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,556</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24962488</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosegoldblood/pseuds/rosegoldblood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>dream is a youtuber, and a pretty big one (if he does say so himself). and he knows it's wrong, conceited, maybe even a little narcissistic to join a discord server about himself - under a fake name at that. but it's so fun, and also the server has george in it, so... maybe it's not that bad after all?</p><p>george is a big dream fan. scratch that; he's actually the biggest. he's an active subreddit user, is in at least three servers, and everything there is to know about dream? he probably knows it, even if it's a bit creepy. when he starts chatting with another fan on a server, his life gets way more complicated than he wants it to be.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>128</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1324</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. i've been at the wrong place at the wrong time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeahMay/gifts">LeahMay</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>oh, so you thought my last fic was ridiculous? behold! thank you amy on the discord server for letting me write this idea &lt;3</p><p>this doesn't have to be said, but please don't pressure any of the dteam about dreamnotfound or anything related to that. if they are uncomfortable with the shipping, i'll take this down. i hope you enjoy! 👉👈</p>
    </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>if george and/or dream are saying this then please go away (i love you both though)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong> <em>GEORGE</em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p><strong>hay</strong> today at 04:20</p><p>i just made a dream fandom server and i'd appreciate it if anyone else joineddd &lt;3</p><p> </p><p>below that, an invite. george didn't even hesitate, clicking on the 'join' button and flopping onto his stomach, eyes focused on the glow of his screen. a moment later the screen loaded and george typed out a 'hi'. a few people responded with greetings and welcomes of their own. </p><p> </p><p>after introducing himself in one of the other channels and talking for a while, george's phone vibrated in his hands. he'd gotten a dm from someone - one of the other users in the server. he tapped on the icon, and lazily scanned the text. <em>heyyy its me brick from the dream server?? :) </em></p><p> </p><p>george's fingers flew across the screen to type up a quick reply. <em>i remember, hi. do you need something??</em></p><p> </p><p>the next reply came almost instantly, to his delight. <em>well i dont need anything i just thought you were cool and wanted to dm you. is that okay?? am i bothering you or something lmao. </em>before george could respond a second message came: <em>its alright if i am you can tell me.</em></p><p> </p><p><em>oh you're not, dont worry about it, </em>george sent, a small smile beginning to grow on his face, <em>its just when ppl dm me they usually need something yk? like private messaging is so intimate haha</em></p><p> </p><p>from there, they struck up a conversation. "brick" (george kind of doubted that was his real name, and when he asked, his suspicions were confirmed) was a good conversational partner. he was funny, and sweet, pushy and mean in a friendly way. in the back of george's mind he thought that brick was a little like dream, but he thought nothing of it - everything reminded him of dream, seeing as he was such a big fan.</p><p> </p><p>when brick asked him what time it was for george, he realised with a start that he'd been up all night, spending about two hours just chatting with his new friend. <em>jeez, you should really get some rest, dude, </em>was the text sent after he said so. then another: <em>ah i have smth to do - i'll chat later? :)</em> </p><p> </p><p>george agreed, his heart fluttering at the smiley face. he closed discord and stretched, feeling the lack of sleep start to weigh on him. after a cold shower and a change of clothes, george settled into his desk and opened up google, hands hovering over the keyboard. he was in a bit of a daze, still trying to wake up.</p><p> </p><p>then his phone exploded with discord notifications. with a small laughed he picked it up and opened discord, grinning when he realised the users in his servers were typing fast about dream's new stream. excitedly he opened twitch and dream was, indeed, live.</p><p> </p><p>it was another try for the speedrun record, and although george and some of the chat were doubtful he could beat his own time, he dutifully opened the stream and started watching anyway, tucking his knees up in his chair.</p><p> </p><p>someone donated a few dollars along with a message: "hi dream! so glad you started streaming, but isnt it 2 in the morning?? lol hows your night been so far?"</p><p> </p><p>dream read it out loud and laughed at the middle of the message. "yep. it's, uh, around two in the morning for me..." the chat seemed to collectively let out a groan at dream's lousy sleep schedule. "but i took a nap before, guys, i promise." although some viewers seemed skeptical, this was enough to mollify most of them.</p><p> </p><p>a few more donations and cheers passed, and dream apologised for being so focused on the game that he couldn't read them. "i'll get back to them later," he promised, and the chat spouted some supportive messages.</p><p> </p><p>despite his concentration on the game, dream glanced up when george donated five dollars under his usual name - <em>georgenotfound, </em>the same one as his user on discord. "hey dream! it's me, george, " at this the chat said a few greetings, as george was somewhat of a regular, "- question, do you ever get tired streaming so late?"</p><p> </p><p>"no, not really," he answered, "i mean, the only reason i started streaming so late was because i was talking to someone... otherwise i would have started at midnight." dream let out a small laugh at that, continuing to kill an iron golem with a stone sword in the game.</p><p> </p><p>the chat burst into excited comments, most of them querying about who the specific 'someone' was. dream ignored most of them as he usually did, but when someone commented: "it's probably sapnap. his sappy nappy. his sappitus nappitus", dream burst out in wheezes, struggling to read the comment out loud as he laughed.</p><p> </p><p>"ha! maybe," dream said slyly, "you guys want to get sap in here? join the teamspeak?" </p><p> </p><p>once again the chat went crazy with agreement. sapnap wasn't a youtuber himself, but was a regular in dream's streams and even in one or two of his videos. they were childhood friends, dream revealed in his q&amp;a, and george had to admit that he felt maybe a little jealous - but sapnap was funny (although a bit obnoxious in his opinion) and he didn't mind all <em>that </em>much.</p><p> </p><p>after apologising again for being late on donations, dream gave in to the whims of his viewers and called sapnap to join him. the rest of the stream was mostly uneventful. dream and sapnap (or rather <em>snapmap, </em>as the chat liked to joke) trading quips and banter as they tried to speedrun the game.</p><p> </p><p>dream screeched in disappointment when sapnap dealt the final killing blow to the dragon instead of him. he jumped into the portal and faint clicking sounds were heard as the endgame screen started to play. "alright, so, i think i missed a few donations; i'll read them now."</p><p> </p><p>george laughed at the screen again as dream started to comb through his donations. he picked up his phone and without thinking about it, sent brick a quick message: <em>did you catch the stream? :D</em></p><p> </p><p>a moment later, the sound of a ping was heard through dream's microphone. dream finished reading someone else's donation and gave a 'thank you in response', before stopping dead. george tilted his head, squinting at his phone screen. it was probably a coincidence, but a nice one at that.</p><p> </p><p><em>i did. it was pretty cool. shame he didnt break the record again, </em>brick replied.</p><p> </p><p>as soon as george got the message, dream went back to reading. "dont worry, dream, you killed the ender dragon in my heart, not snapmap," he read aloud, and laughed again, "thank you, george, for the dono." the enunciation of his name was enough to make george's heart skip a beat, no matter how stupid it was.</p><p> </p><p>besides, dream was a youtuber. unattainable and faraway. so a crush on him wouldn't mean shit, not unless he was homophobic (which george seriously doubted). he tilted his head and grinned, typing up a response to brick. <em>yeah that would have been the flex of the decade lol, </em>he replied.</p><p> </p><p>holding his phone close against his own chest as brick started typing back, george looked up at the ceiling and grinned. in the span of two hours he'd managed to make a friend he could bond with over dream, and dream himself had acknowledged him on stream - which he'd done at least once before, but was still flattering.</p><p> </p><p>george could call that a success.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. chasing all the wrong things most of my life</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> <strong>DREAM</strong> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>dream was in serious trouble.</p><p> </p><p>what was he <em>thinking? </em>making a discord account impersonating a fan of <em>himself, </em>joining a server (once again about himself). and those two would've been fine, albeit a bit sketchy, if not for the final and most stupid action of the bunch. messaging a user on that server to - actually, dream didn't know why he did it.</p><p> </p><p>he knew why he had chosen george - the latter had been a dedicated fan since his first hundred twitch subscribers, donating during every stream so much to the point where if he didn't, dream'd start to get worried. his messages were always witty and kind and respectful.</p><p> </p><p>dream liked to think that he was humble. he knew he wasn't overly arrogant or anything, but sometimes being a youtuber got tiring and he just needed someone to sing his praises. so a server dedicated to him would be full of people willing to sing his praises. under a false name, too, he could be conceited without <em>being conceited.</em></p><p> </p><p>it was a perfect plan. a little shady morally, but perfect nonetheless. </p><p> </p><p>he'd chatted for a while, honoured to see so many members in a server that had allegedly started only a day or two ago. and then george joined, and that was when dream's common sense had gone to shit. when george's username had popped up in the server, his brain went crazy. <em>we know him!</em> his mind seemed to yell.</p><p> </p><p>and of course his brain wasn't content with sitting there with that information. here was a dedicated fan, who had probably donated at least two hundred dollars over the years, supported him since the beginning. he'd always been grateful to george especially, for sticking with him from the start...</p><p> </p><p>so he'd messaged him. idiotic, really. it was approaching midnight by then, and dream knew he should've been streaming, but george was interesting and exactly the person dream had expected him to be. funny, a little shy at times. the last friend he remembered talking to was sapnap, who could be a little exhausting.</p><p> </p><p>eventually he realised that he did have things to be doing and when he asked george what time it was for the latter, he seemed a little sheepish at admitting that he'd pulled an all-nighter. dream told him to get some rest (fully aware of how much of a hypocrite he was), then excused himself to stream.</p><p> </p><p>halfway through dream found out that george had not, in fact, gone to get some rest, as a donation popped up on screen with a familiar name. he was about to reprimand george for not getting any sleep before realising that he wasn't supposed to know, biting his tongue and answering the question.</p><p> </p><p>throughout the stream george gave a few more donations, and dream had to restrain himself from paying attention to them lest the fans thought he harboured some favoritism. now that he knew things about george, his <em>devoted fan, </em>that he'd never known before, it was hard to see him the same.</p><p> </p><p>that was another thing that contributed to the guilt eating away at his gut. what if the stuff george had told brick about himself were things he didn't want dream to know? they were two separate people to george, and it served to make dream a little more guilty. not to mention texting while streaming was a skill that dream didn't have.</p><p> </p><p>he'd come so close to being exposed when his phone pinged with george's message, so loud that there was no way it hadn't been heard. a quick glance at the chat said so as well, viewers jabbering eagerly about who it could have been.</p><p> </p><p>and that was that. dream was well and truly fucked.</p><p> </p><p>so he did the only thing he ever did when he had a problem. called sapnap.</p><p> </p><p>sapnap wasn't a good therapist by any means. he wasn't even a particularly good problem-solver. but he was an average one, and two braincells were better than one. and also, he was dream's only friend, but that information wasn't as important as the rest, obviously.</p><p> </p><p>"<em>hey</em> dream," sapnap said, picking up the call after the first ring, dragging out the first word flirtatiously.</p><p> </p><p>"shut up, sapnap," dream replied, knowing that his friend wouldn't mind, "i need help with something." he waited for sapnap's succinct 'cool' in reply before launching into his story. "so i made this fake discord account impersonating a fan of myself so that i could text people and feel better about myself."</p><p> </p><p>he was interrupted by sapnap's laughter. "dude, seriously?" his giggling grew more raucous, and dream sagged back into his chair, making a point of sighing loudly. "okay, okay, we're off to a great start. right, okay. you can continue."</p><p> </p><p>despite his exasperation, dream obliged. "so i joined this server about myself -" ignoring the renewed bout of sapnap laughing like a madman, "- and i messaged - well, you know that georgenotfound guy, right? the one who always donates, been a fan since like, forever? i messaged him."</p><p> </p><p>there was a loud <em>bang </em>sound on the other side of the phone and a moment later sapnap was howling with laughter like it was end of the world, wheezing like he was dream, who rolled his eyes as he waited for the other to finish. after a few minutes he finally calmed down, snorting every few seconds to make a point.</p><p> </p><p>"<em>oh my god," </em>he said through the giggling, "oh my god, okay. okay. when was this, exactly? like when did you message him first?"</p><p> </p><p>dream flushed with embarrassment, counting the days on his fingers. "um..." he considered lying for a second to preserve his dignity, before deciding that <em>fuck it, sapnap probably has no respect for me at this point anyway. </em>"a week ago?"</p><p> </p><p>"a week?" sapnap repeated, voice full of wonder, "okay, so what's the problem here?" dream furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, wondering whether his friend really was that dumb. "i mean, i'm not seeing it here. you made a new friend, and he's a fan of you, so..."</p><p> </p><p>"he doesn't know i'm dream, sap," dream responded through gritted teeth, "and i'm just worried. like, we're friends, but what if he tells me something that he doesn't want dream to know? isn't that shady, or like, an invasion of privacy?"</p><p> </p><p>sapnap took a moment to consider this. "so tell him, dude," he said, straightforward as usual, "you've only been friends for a week, right? and it's not like you're in love or anything." dream sighed into the phone, knowing sapnap was right. "no, dude, listen. he's like, your biggest fan. he won't mind or... be angry."</p><p> </p><p>"i guess you're right," dream admitted, fidgeting with the drawstrings of his hoodie, "i'll - i'll tell him. but you don't, okay? i'll do it when i'm ready. we're still up for recording tomorrow, right? the speedrunner thing?" sapnap agreed on both points before saying goodbye and hanging up.</p><p> </p><p>dream set his phone down and walked to the kitchen, legs feeling like jelly, digging around the fridge for a snack. when he came back, arms cradling a microwaved bowl of popcorn, there was a discord notification displayed on his phone.</p><p> </p><p>he flopped onto his chair and scooted back a little, tapping on the app to check. it was george, of course, texting him a simple <em>hi</em>. a second later there was another message; <em>you free to talk rn or what? :)</em></p><p> </p><p>the smiley face was a good indication. george wasn't serious, hadn't found out. <em>sure, </em>dream replied, reminding himself that he was brick for the moment and not himself. <em>what's up?</em></p><p> </p><p>
  <em>nothing much actually,, what abt you? </em>
</p><p> </p><p>a giddy smile grew on dream's face, the floaty, happy feeling expanding through his body. <em>same here. kind of a slowww day today. </em>he still hadn't decided what brick's profession was - he couldn't be a streamer because that was a tad bit similar to dream. thankfully, george hadn't asked yet.</p><p> </p><p><em>tell me about it, </em>george answered, but it must have been rhetorical because another message came after, <em>hey, do you want to maybe... facetime? </em></p><p> </p><p>dream froze up. none of his fans had ever seen his face, and that included george. if he said no, he risked looking suspicious. if he said yes... well, george wouldn't know it was dream, but he'd hear his voice anyway, and by then he was probably familiar with it. </p><p> </p><p><em>it's cool if you dont want to! </em>george added, <em>we've just been friends for a week now and i thought itd be cool but like i get it, strangers over the internet, all that weird hacker stuff. </em>dream snickered at that. </p><p> </p><p><em>yeah, i'm kind of insecure about my own face, sorry. </em>which wasn't exactly true. while lots of his fans seemed to think he was self-conscious, the reason for his refusal of a face reveal was a simple wariness of what they'd do with it. dream loved his fans, but they could be a little creepy at times. <em>but i do kind of want to see yours. is that weird?</em></p><p> </p><p><em>not weird at all, </em>george said, to dream's relief (as he was a little worried over how freaky his last message was), <em>hold on! i'll send you a selfie ;)</em></p><p> </p><p>the winky face made dream's face heat up, and he drank a glass of water to battle the blush in his cheeks, shoving popcorn into his mouth in an attempt to ignore it. george had gone offline, probably to take a selfie, and dream drummed his fingers against his thigh in anticipation.</p><p> </p><p>george was back online and typing, but seemed to change his mind, because the picture had no caption when he sent it. the photo was spoilered for some reason, blurred out with the warning text on the middle. dream bit his lip and tapped on it, closing his eyes in preparation, trying to ward away the guilt building in his gut.</p><p> </p><p>he opened his eyes. <em>fuck.</em></p><p> </p><p>dream thought he spent a minute just staring. george wasn't a perfect, handsome supermodel, but he was cute, with neat black hair and pale skin. he tilted his head and scanned the image, admiring his soft smile, tongue just barely sticking out.</p><p> </p><p><em>you're cute, wanna date? </em>dream joked in reply. </p><p> </p><p><em>sorry, but my heart is reserved for dream only 😔 LOL, </em>george sent back, and it made dream's stomach twist itself into knots, both with excitement and guilt, <em>anyway, want to hear the story of how my cat attacked a mailman today??</em></p><p> </p><p>dream sent a <em>sure lol </em>in response, sliding off his chair and groaning as george began to type. he had learnt two things: one, george was supremely adorable and he'd probably never see his fan the same way ever again (although whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, dream was still deciding).</p><p> </p><p>two, he really was fucked, and it was all his own fault.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. been every kinda lost that you can't find</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>new fic title because the word 'kinda' in a title just gives me bad vibes.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> <strong>GEORGE</strong> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>it was a sunny day, one that wasn't too hot but wasn't too cold, either, cool and warm at the same time, clouds drifting through the sky. it was a perfect day, and george was freaking out.</p><p> </p><p>brick had refused to facetime or show his own face when asked, and george understood that, but he'd also refused a call. who refused calling at the age of twenty, if that was even brick's real age? george was either being catfished, hacked, assaulted, or a weird combination of all three. </p><p> </p><p>whatever it was, it wasn't good. he'd sent brick his face! let him listen to his voice! to be fair, brick was always so... real. he always seem to got george's references to dream, even making a few of his own, so there was no way he wasn't a fan. george had always thought he was too life-like to be some creepy forty year old.</p><p> </p><p>but maybe that was how it happened. everyone had always warned him to be careful on the internet, and he'd usually scoffed and thought that he was smart enough to not get hacked. clearly, he was not. he'd sent brick his face. <em>he'd sent him his fucking face! </em>who knew what he was doing with that selfie?</p><p> </p><p>it had been a week since that, and george had withdrawn quite a bit. brick had asked him about it but didn't seem to mind the half-assed excuse that george have. that was a good sign. if he was some kind of hacker he probably would have asked for more private information by then.</p><p> </p><p>still, though.</p><p> </p><p><em>hey dreams stream is in like a min or two, will u able to watch? :o </em>his phone vibrated with another text from brick. it was true - dream had posted earlier on his twitter that he would be streaming soon. george typed back hesitantly; just texting the guy wouldn't hurt, right?</p><p> </p><p><em>yep, logging on now, </em>he replied, <em>hey can i ask u something? </em>george put his phone down on the desk before logging onto twitch on his computer, waiting for the screen to pop up with the notification that dream was live.</p><p> </p><p>before that happened, however, brick responded with his own message. <em>sure, whats up? </em>george bit his lip and glanced at the time. twitch was still mysteriously inactive, although dream's stream should've started. <em>??? whats wrong, </em>was the next when george didnt respond.</p><p> </p><p><em>nothing, its cool, maybe after dreams stream? </em>he texted back. it didn't matter. dream was late, sometimes, to his own videos and streams. and he wasn't too late, as the second after brick messaged <em>sounds good to me </em>the notification popped up. george clicked on it.</p><p> </p><p>it wasn't just the possibility of brick being some kind of... online porn bot, or a creepy old man. nothing was ever that simple in george's life. it was the fact that, despite his paranoia, and his anxiety, and the very likely outcome of brick being either one of those things, george had a teeny, tiny crush on him.</p><p> </p><p>this was quite obviously bad. it wasn't like his tiny crush on dream (who was trying to beat a hardcore world with sapnap), because dream was like a celebrity, someone faraway, someone to idolise over. brick was his <em>friend, </em>no matter how suspicious he was.</p><p> </p><p>george scooted closer to his computer screen, hoping the stream would distract him. except the worry in his gut wouldn't go away. he dreamt of meeting brick, getting him to at least tell george his real name, dreamt of hearing his voice say the pixellated words on his phone. he could tell his discord server about it, except they all had a few hundred users in them, and he didn't want to take the chance of one of them being brick.</p><p> </p><p><em>why won't you show me your face, brick? </em>he finally settled on sending, <em>or your voice?? like i get youre uncomfortable, but... i dont know. guess im just worried youre some kind of bot or a hacker jgkbgj. please dont hack me lmao, </em>george added, trying to make the message more lighthearted.</p><p> </p><p>george turned his attention back to the stream as he waited for an answer. "guys, dream is going to get beat up by the iron golem, watch," sapnap was saying, teasing dream playfully as he stacked three blocks of sand and punched the iron golem. dream himself started to say something before a ping was heard once again through his microphone, like it had done two weeks ago.</p><p> </p><p>dream went quiet, his player stilling, and the golem took the opportunity to jump up and whack dream with its fists, his player flying off the sand-stack and dying. sapnap roared with laughter, but dream was still suspiciously quiet - until a moment later the sound that wasn't unlike a microphone being smacked was heard on the stream.</p><p> </p><p>"fu - <em>dge!</em>" dream almost swore, making sapnap laugh more, and george felt his phone vibrate with another message from brick, which was a little suspicious.</p><p> </p><p>he let his mind wander. what if brick was dream? it'd make sense. whenever dream was doing something, brick would be offline, and when he wasn't, brick'd be typing and chatting away. as well as the conveniently timed discord pings.</p><p> </p><p>it lined up, except the concept was so utterly ridiculous george laughed at his own mind for coming up with it. the notifications could have been coincidences, and the typing thing could have been a weird quirk. he had met some people who only texted when the stream went a little dull, not wanting to miss a second.</p><p> </p><p>besides, he couldn't get his expectations up. the higher the hopes, the higher the misery when they weren't met. not to mention that dream had his own discord account that george saw on the daily in his official server, and making a fake one to join a server about himself just seemed like something that would happen in a weird dreamnap fanfiction.</p><p> </p><p><em>i guess im just really private, </em>brick had answered, <em>im sorry, george... this type of thing is just kinda special to me. i swear im not a bot though! or a pervert! </em>this elicited a small giggle from george. <em>i hope this doesnt affect your friendship?</em></p><p> </p><p><em>it won't, </em>george replied, anxiety relieved for the moment, eyes happily trained on the stream, dream and sapnap reading a donation aloud as they started a new hardcore world, <em>was just kind of concerned ig. but hey, whats up with you?</em></p><p> </p><p>dream paused again on stream, mouse hovering over the 'create world' button. then he laughed along with sapnap at the chat, creating the world just as george's phone pinged again. <em>nothing much, just watching the stream. how about you? ;)</em></p><p> </p><p>damn that cursed winky face. his worries about brick being a pervert had been assuaged, but not his worries about being literally being in love with the guy.</p><p> </p><p>yeah, maybe in love was somewhat of an exaggeration - nobody could fall in love with someone else within two weeks' time, that was, again, something to happen in a weird dreamnap fanfiction. except his heart beat a bit faster when he saw the little green circle near his icon, his cheeks heated up whenever brick made a flirtatious joke.</p><p> </p><p>absolute fucking nonsense, he thought it was, typing up a half-hearted reply. on the stream, dream and sapnap were talking about their viewers. "hay donated before," dream was saying, mining stone with his wooden pickaxe, "then there's georgenotfound. not going to donate today, george?" he questioned, voice teasing.</p><p> </p><p>his heart skipped a beat again at dream, acknowledging his existence with such familiarity. it almost made dream feel like a friend. and what he needed right now, more than anything to calm his worries, was a friend.</p><p> </p><p>so with his heart pounding faster than light in his chest, bile piling in his throat, george's fingers flew across the keyboard, bringing the amount of his donation up to five hundred dollars - which was the most money he'd ever given in a single dono. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>hey dream! so glad youre streaming rn x so, well, i kind of met this user on hay's server, and we've been talking for about two weeks now. i think i may be kind of in love with him, but i dont know if hes some kind of fifty year old pervert. what do you think i should do, dream? ps. brick, if youre out there, dont judge me for this.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>he regretted donating the moment he did. george scrambled at his keyboard, trying to find a way to somehow cancel or reverse it, except the deed was done, and the message had popped up on dream's stream. shit. he was done. it was over for george.</p><p> </p><p>the stream was quiet for a moment, although the chat was going bonkers, comments speeding by. george felt tears prick in his eyes as dream stayed silent.</p><p> </p><p>then there was a loud scream, microphone prickling at the noise. "<em>OH MY FUCKING GOD!" </em>dream screeched, before george's screen went black. the stream had ended. dream had shrieked like he'd been murdered and ended the stream. george would've snickered at it if he wasn't busy burying his face in his hands and regretting his terrible decision.</p><p> </p><p>his phone buzzed and vibrated wildly with several messages from brick. </p><p> </p><p>fuck.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. but i got one thing right (you)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>thank you all for your support! this kind of blew up and i love all of you &lt;3</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> <strong>DREAM</strong> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>holy. shit.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>"dream!" sapnap shouted over the mic, but dream didn't respond, stuck staring at the blank screen with the donation message written across it. <em>met this user on hay's server... talking for about two weeks now... may be kind of in love with him... </em>"dude! are you there? are you having a stroke?"</p><p> </p><p>"five hundred -" dream took a wheezy breath, hands curling and uncurling themselves on his desk, "- five hundred dollars, sapnap," he choked out, his mouth hanging open with astonishment. after sending george a barrage of texts (none of which had been responded to yet), dream resigned to sitting in his chair, not knowing what to do with himself.</p><p> </p><p>sapnap clicked his tongue and dream thought he could feel the former rolling his eyes despite not being able to see him. "dude, that crazymariobros guy has donated like, way more than that before. why are you freaking out so bad?"</p><p> </p><p>his phone pinged, and dream scrambled to check his discord. the circle on top of the screen, with the red dot next to george's icon, sent a shock through his heart, and he didn't bother responding to sapnap, although he made a point of jabbering insistently to distract dream.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>hey, brick. so you saw that dono, huh. i seriously messed up. i know you dont... want me, and i know you probably didnt want our friendship to be publicised like that either. so yeah i fucked up and im taking a break from discord x</em>
</p><p> </p><p>"no," dream said aloud, much to sapnap's confused sputtering, "no, no. what an idiot." </p><p> </p><p>"you're the idiot!" sapnap yelled through the call, and yet dream's eyes stayed focused on the screen. "dream, dude, oh my god, you just shut off the stream like that -" he snapped his fingers, "- can you at least tell me what's going on?" dream did not tell sapnap what was going on. "dream!"</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>no, george, i promise. you didnt do anything wrong please just talk to me.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>except with a sinking feeling dream realised that there was a grey dot next to george's icon now - he was offline. he was gone. if he called, then dream would have to have george listen to his voice - he didn't want him to know - but above that he wanted george back. </p><p> </p><p>he had two choices. call and let george know that he was dream, that he was a fake and a scam, that the person he was supposedly in love with was a liar. or... he could wait for george to come back to discord, no matter how long it took. play the safe route.</p><p> </p><p>but then again. george probably already knew, didn't he? he was smart. there was no way he hadn't noticed how dream shrieked at his donation message, how familiar he was with one of his fans, albeit through a mask. but if he did know, then wouldn't he have told brick - confronted him about it -</p><p> </p><p>"dream," sapnap said through gritted teeth, "you will tell me what's going on right now or else."</p><p> </p><p>"he's - george," dream looked up, clamping his hand over his mouth, "he's... he's in love... with me." silence from sapnap. "but he's not. he's in love with me through - brick. and i don't want him to know i'm a liar, sapnap." the last sentence was barely a murmur.</p><p> </p><p>sapnap snorted in exasperation. "you're not a liar, dream," he said, but dream sank back into his chair, knowing that he was, and that he'd fucked everything up with george, "you have to tell him, dude." </p><p> </p><p>dream looked down at the cuffs of his green hoodie. he knew sapnap was right. it would clear everything up, if george didn't know already, except he risked letting everything go. if he didn't tell george there'd at least be a slim chance of fixing their friendship, making everything right again.</p><p> </p><p>"i don't want to," dream replied dully, fingers skimming across his keyboard. sapnap said something, something that was probably right once again, but dream couldn't hear anything through his daze. he flexed his fingers and started typing. <em>george, i'm dream. </em></p><p> </p><p>it sounded so ingenuine. if he had to do it, he wanted it to be real. he looked up at his computer screen, now in sleep mode since he'd neglected to touch it or do anything. "dream," sapnap said with the voice he adopted when he got an idea (usually a bad one), "why don't you say it on stream?"</p><p> </p><p>dream shakily clicked his screen. twitch was still open, and he swallowed. this time, as dream, not as brick, his real self. he cleared his throat and leaned in toward the mic. the second he started the stream, viewers came flooding in, asking questions and commenting excitedly. "whoa, okay, so you're doing it." sapnap seemed surprised although it was his suggestion, and a few clicks told dream that the other was also watching the stream.</p><p> </p><p>"hey, guys," he started, voice hoarse, and the chat starting popping up with ridiculous suggestions as to what had happened. the general consensus was that it was patches, his cat, who had shut off his computer, and the chat was making jokes about how annoying cats were.</p><p> </p><p>"it's cool, dude, just, like... say it," sapnap advised, so quiet dream wasn't sure if it'd be heard on the stream. </p><p> </p><p>a deep breath. "it wasn't patches," dream admitted, and the chat was rushed with comments of varying levels of confusion, "it was me, i shut off the stream. intentionally." this time the chat really was confused, viewers trying to sort out what was going on. his eyes caught on a familiar username. "george, you're watching."</p><p> </p><p>"i am... the person... i'm brick, george," he murmured, "i'm brick," he repeated louder, and the chat flooded with chaos. some seemed convinced it was an intricate, orchestrated joke, while some seemed to drink in the drama like it was a lifeline. dream almost laughed at the sight. "and i'm sorry for lying, but you should come back. text me, and we'll talk this out. and i know this sounds cheesy, but... i love you too, george." </p><p> </p><p>with a final goodbye he shut off the stream. his hand subconsciously went to pick up his phone and check his discord, but nothing happened. the server "brick" was in was blowing up with notifications and fans going crazy, but nothing from george.</p><p> </p><p>"dude, he's not responding." dream would've tried to laugh at his own voice crack in any other situation, except his throat felt sore and tired from screaming. "sapnap. he's not responding. what the fuck. i scared him away. i should've - i don't know -" his eyes were starting to sting.</p><p> </p><p>he heard sapnap curse through the call. "oh for - give me his discord tag, dream." he barely had any time to express his confusion before sapnap continued. "just give it to me, okay? i'll talk to him. i'll convince him to talk to you, i promise."</p><p> </p><p>dream bit his lip. lying to george was one thing, then there was him announcing everything on stream for all of his viewers to see. giving sapnap george's discord tag would probably just make george hate him more. except by the looks of it george didn't seem to be keen on responding any time soon.</p><p> </p><p>"fine. i'll... text it to you." he scrolled down to sapnap's icon and his fingers flew across the keyboard, sending him george's user and his tag. sapnap hummed in approval and dream heard the clacking of keys. "good luck."</p><p> </p><p>sapnap didn't reply, but hummed again. dream tapped his fingers against the desk, then drummed them against his thighs. he got up from his chair and dug around his fridge for a snack, coming up with a fun size chocolate bar and half-eaten slice of cake. once he got back, sapnap was still quiet. so quiet that dream had to check if they were still in the call (which they were).</p><p> </p><p>he tried to get started on the cake, but realised he didn't have a fork or a spoon or even a knife. "any updates, sap?" dream asked lazily as he resorted to eating the cake with his bare fingers, icing all over his skin.</p><p> </p><p>"shut it, man. i think i've nearly got him," was sapnap's reply. dream sighed and looked down at his frosting-smeared hands, considering licking it all of before deciding that there were some lines he just wouldn't cross. he got up and entered the bathroom, turning on the faucet to wash his hands.</p><p> </p><p>when he came back, fisting his hands in his pants to dry them, there was a single notification in the corner of his screen. heart filling up with hope, dream picked his phone up with shaking hands. it was from george. not a confession. not even a sentence. just a single <em>hi.</em></p><p> </p><p>"sapnap, you're a god," dream said wondrously, and although sapnap didn't respond, he did giggle smugly, "i'm hanging up, but - thank you."</p><p> </p><p>"that's what friends are for," sapnap responded, his voice smug and kind at the same time, like a humble brag, "good luck, dream. go get your man," he teased, before the subtle <em>beep</em> told dream that he'd hung up.</p><p> </p><p><em>hi, george. its me, yeah, im dream. i totally understand why you're angry. </em>dream chewed on his fingernails in anticipation of a reply. the three dots at the bottom of the screen blinked on and off, on and off. geeorge was typing. he was there, at least. they could talk.</p><p> </p><p><em>im not angry. </em>dream raised his eyebrows at the message, but a second one soon followed. <em>well yeah i kind of am, but thats not the reason i didnt text. i was scared. like - what were you going to say to me, yknow? and like holy shit ive dreamt of this for FOREVER. you're my idol dude</em></p><p> </p><p>dream laughed and his fingers hovered over the letters, but george kept sending text after text. <em>and im sorry for sending that dono, it was kind of disrespectful. and yeah im a little mad because,,, why didnt you tell me?? and whyd u do it in the first place?? but like holy shit. youre DREAM.</em></p><p> </p><p><em>i am, </em>was all he could respond for lack of words to say, <em>and i'm sorry. but i want to ask... do you still love me? now that you know that im not brick but that im dream?</em></p><p> </p><p>
  <em>dude. of course.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>his heart leapt into his throat.</p><p> </p><p><em>can i have... maybe... a face reveal? i wont show anybody, i promise, and its cool if you dont want to, but... id like to see the user i fell in love with, thanks. </em>there was a bit of his old, familiar snark in the text, and with a muffled sob-laugh dream tapped into his camera app and raised it in the air in selfie mode.</p><p> </p><p>no caption, just like george's face reveal selfie those weeks ago, although to dream it felt like it had been years. he checked the spoiler box and tapped the send button, taking a deep breath as it loaded, setting his phone down on the desk. a moment later is pinged. </p><p> </p><p><em>you're beautiful. </em>dream choked on a laugh and sent back a message about george being colourblind, probably full of typos. it felt like his soul had grown too big for his body, overflowing around the edges. everything felt blurred and soft around the edges. <em>dont worry, i can tell.</em></p><p> </p><p>the next text was more hesitant. <em>so dream i know this is kinda out of the blue but uh... do you wanna maybe be my boyfriend? like my internet boyfriend?</em></p><p> </p><p>a smile spread across dream's face at that.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>i'd like that very much, george.</em>
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